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Just In Case Estates expert matching is always 100% free. We’ll answer your questions, discuss your needs, and recommend an estate planning expert (if you want one) that’s the best fit for you.

If you do end up engaging an expert, they’ll work for you at clear, upfront rates that are paid by the estate.

In some cases, the expert may pay Just In Case Estates a small referral commission, but the experts are legally prohibited from charging you more for using Just In Case Estates.

If you are an executor or trustee and engage one of our expert partners, their compensation is paid by the estate as an administration expense. You won’t pay a thing.

Any recommendations that Just In Case Estates provides are always free, and all the experts with whom we partner provide a free initial consult.

The hourly rates of the estate planning attorneys on Just In Case Estates vary between $200 / hour and $750 / hour.

You can expect to average lower billable hours than the 'headline' attorney rate, however, since some of the estate administration work can be handled by paralegals or more junior attorneys on your expert's team who bill at lower rates.

The initial consult with your estate planning expert is always free.

The cost of engaging a financial advisor or registered investment advisor will depend on what type of services you desire, the size of your portfolio and the advisor's compensation structure.

Although there is no standard fee or cost that applies to all financial advisors, a 2021 study by Advisory HQ found that the average advisor fees for managing $50,000 to $1,000,000 of assets is between 1.02% and 1.18%.

As your assets increase in value, you can expect to pay lower fees. The same study found the average fee for managing $10 million to $30 million was between $0.59% and 0.69%.

Probate is the legal process of administering a deceased person's estate.

It starts with proving in court that the deceased person's will is valid (if there is one) and appointing an executor (i.e., a manager) responsible for winding up the deceased person's earthly affairs. The executor helps identify and inventory the person's property, pays debts and taxes, and distributes the remaining property to the beneficiaries in the will or (if there is no will) the beneficiaries according to state law.

Probate creates a public record of the estate and can be time-consuming and expensive.

However, depending on the value of the deceased person's assets, how the assets are titled, and the state, the deceased person's estate may qualify for certain small probate or expedited proceedings.

You can also usually avoid probate by creating a revocable living trust.

Probate can take anywhere from several months to several years, depending on a variety of factors:

• the complexity of the estate
• the size of the estate
• the laws of the state where the deceased person lived
• the availability and competency of the local court that has jurisdiction over the probate proceeding

Your Just In Case Estates estate administration expert will be able to provide a clearer estimate of how long you might expect your probate proceeding to take based on the specifics of your case and the local court.

Trust administration is the process of managing a trust after the death of the person who created it.

Similar to probate, it involves identifying and inventorying the assets, paying debts and taxes owed by the trust, and distributing the remaining assets to the beneficiaries named in the trust document.

Unlike probate, trust administration is a private process that does not involve the court system. This means that the trust administration process can be faster, less expensive, and more private than the probate process.

Trust administration can take anywhere from several months to several years to complete, depending on a variety of factors:

• the complexity of the trust
• the size of the trust
• the laws of the state where the trust is located

All else equal, trust administration tends to be faster and easier than probate administration because it is a private process that in most all cases does not require court supervision.